Anti-maskers protest local library for making 'health and safety' its 'highest priority'

Brad Reed

April 14, 2021

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A group of anti-maskers in Sandpoint, Idaho this week protested a local library and criticized it for making "health and safety" its top priority.

The Bonner County Daily Bee reports that protesters gathered this week to demand that the Sandpoint Library rescind its mask mandate and let them into the library without any kind of face covering.

Protester Grant Dorman, for one, criticized the library's policy of prioritizing the health of its staff and patrons.
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"The first sentence of the [library board] policy states, 'the health and safety of employees and patrons is our highest priority,'" he said. "This ideology is the view of the board. And while health and safety [are] important, it surely isn't the most important thing in everyone's view."

Another protester, identified only as Robert R., expressed incredulity that more people in the city didn't believe his claims that masks were actually harmful to people who wear them.

"What I encounter is people who have no idea what I'm talking about, and their standard questions, 'oh, where do you get your information?'" he said. "I can tell you, it doesn't come from CNN and it doesn't come from Google."

In the end, however, the library refused to back down from its policy and reminded the anti-maskers that it offers pick-up services to people who don't want to wear masks.